Mattymatt

I am ready to get this done. I have been approved by insurance and I am scheduled for gastric bypass on February 8th. It's been a long journey and I am very excited. Here's to the end of the old me, and the beginning of the new me. The news arrived today!

Shoot, just even for a woman to notice me would be a win. But I am a long ways away from surgery. First, I have to get a heart valve repaired.

Thank you for the words of encouragement. I am facing my own mortality and it's both sad and scary at the same time. These were things that I never thought about in my 20s and 30s. I let my health go and living with the aftermath of my decisions simply makes me sad beyond all reason. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself that when I lost weight the first time to get the help treating depression so food would not become self-love. I was shamed and bullied all of my life for being overweight. It is a continuous and vicious cycle. I am not one for prayer at all but I have to maintain some kind of hope that things could at least get better. But I am struggling to muster hope.

I just got some bad news that will require me to put surgery on hold. Being a typical guy, I don't complain about the things that I probably should. Well, I had a routine follow-up with my sleep doctor and he referred me to a cardiologist. I told him that I was feeling short of breath lying down and sitting upright sometimes. I always just chalked it up to being overweight. Today, I had an echocardiogram and the result has made me feel hopeless. There is a problem with the mitral valve in my heart. This will need to be corrected before I can undergo bariatric surgery. For now, my cardiologist increased my blood pressure medicine to ease some of the stress on the vascular blood vessels. The next discussion is surgery to repair the valve. Given that I have not had a heart attack, the recovery period will be somewhat shorter but still will be a while. I feel really sad .... for every step forward, it seems that there are two steps backward. Anyhow, thank you for listening.

My guess is that your surgeon wants to be certain that your liver shrinks enough so that he or she can safely and effectively perform the surgery.

I am not thin just yet. In fact, I am still pre-op but I will never forget from where I came.

So I'm having a really bad patient care experience with Penn Medicine's program and it has lead me to lose complete confidence in my surgeon, Dr. Gary Korus. His staff have been unfriendly, dismissive, and act put out when I have legitimate questions and am confused. If you are considering Penn Medicine to have your surgery done, I would reconsider. The whole program has been less than professional, almost from the beginning. I am lucky in that I found Christiana Care in Delaware and they're more than happy to let me transfer in and I don't have to wait for fscking months on end - I've got an appointment on Thursday, November 30th.

I am going by the chart. I am 6'4" so I should be about 190. I will get as close to that as is possible.

Keep positive. This time you'll get it done.

^^ This. My program offers several support groups across the Greater Philadelphia area. I went and it was nice to be in good company with other people in the same condition as my present one and to meet with others that have had great success and could offer meal planning advice.

If it helps any, I understand. Sometimes it feels like for every step forward, I take two steps backward. Hope things get better soon, but as bad as things might feel, you're still 30 pounds lighter. To give you an idea that's 2 15 pound bowling balls lighter!

First let me say that you've done incredible! Rather than worrying about the plateau, bask in your success. Second, see if you can just do some walking after work. You'll probably feel pretty good after it's done.

Try using an app like loseit to estimate the amount of calories, carbs, etc before you give in to the chocolate craving. I think once you see that the numbers are clearly not in your favor, you'll make the right choice. This helps me immensely.

I would just to be sure. How can the doctor be so sure it's just the stomach lining without any diagnostic medical imaging to rule out other problems. I am not impressed with this surgeon.

There are horror stories for the sleeve, bypass, lap-band, douodenal switch, etc. The bottom line is that the horror story is usually only telling one side. Do not let anyone bully you into any one of these options. You have to do it because you want to do it: that is the only way it will work. Your best chance of success is to follow the post-surgery prescription to a 'T'. There may be an adjustment period and you may feel like less than yourself for a while afterwards but these are adjustments, not complications. If you follow the advice of your surgeon, the chances of serious complications are a mere fraction of a percent, or statistically insignificant. The bottom line is this is a serious undertaking and you should be mentally prepared for it. Of the surgeries out there, I believe the lap band is really the one that has the most serious of potential complications - this is why it is not done so much and falling out of favor.

I use Crystal Light and Mio. If you go with Mio, avoid the caffeinated and energy versions. I don't like water unless it's ice cold. Even though I'm still pre-surgery, I've gotten myself down to about one can of soda every couple of days. I don't even crave it like I used to. Next step needs to be off of that altogether. My surgeon emphasized the importance of no fizzy drinks. Not only could they cause pain but they could cause the staples to rupture.

I'm on an antidepressant as well. I take 30mg of Remeron. My psychiatrist has me on a really cool form of it too. I take the medicine in salt tab form. It dissolves right on the tongue and its effects can be felt in seconds. I wonder if, with significant weight loss and regular physical activity, I could actually get off it.

I chose a normal BMI as a goal but it might not be possible due to extra skin. My optional BMI puts me at about 190.

I wish this were a problem that I have. Right now my libido is like -1. I got no desire for sex right now.

@James Marusek My surgeon said to use chewable vitamins. I wonder if they work as well. He just said not the gummy variety. Flint stones chewables....

I cannot emphasize this enough: get your mom to the hospital! If you can see little black specs in the vomitus, then that is an indicator of partially digested blood. It almost looks like coffee grounds. This is indicative of a serious, potentially life threatening condition. I was a volunteer EMT and this was drilled into us. The best thing to do is to get your mom to professional medical care post haste.

Start tracking what you're eating again. Tracking helps you remain accountable. In the past, when I had some success losing weight, the common denominator had always been because I tracked everything I ate very carefully. Tracking is a pain in the azz but it does work. I use loseit and before any food goes in my mouth, it gets tracked. This way I can see what it is that I am about to eat and can ask myself if this is what I really want to eat. Often seeing the bad numbers on the unhealthy food is enough to stop me.

Nice dude! Keep it up

The latest thinking is that this whole "starvation mode" may not be accurate thinking. I wish I could remember the article but it was a good one.

Today I am just feeling overwhelmed by this whole process of qualifying for bariatric surgery. I'm also feeling sorry for myself and down in the dumps which is aggravated by the fact that I cannot turn to food for some comfort. My brain wants to eat a large pizza but I steadfastly refuse. I'm also physically hurting so I don't feel like walking - my feet hurt something fierce. So, I am down 10 pounds since starting the process at the end of October and I was hoping that the scale would move a little bit more at my weigh in today. Nope, stuck strongly at 356 and this is despite cutting back calories appropriately so I guess this is also part of blood sugar not being as well controlled as it should be. The psych eval was exhausting, particularly because it is revisiting a sad, lonely, and ostracized past. Normally, I don't cry easily but all I feel like doing is breaking down. Time is something not easily recaptured and when I see the time and health that I lost due to obesity, I just feel a whole lot of emotional pain. At least the psychologist concurs with everyone else's thinking that bariatric surgery is a good option. At least that hurdle is cleared. One week until the 2nd nutrition appointment.....